Digital game-based language learning in the young L2 learner classroom

Digital game-based language learning (DGBLL) aims to enhance L2 learners’ language and literacy skills through the purposeful integration of digital games not designed for language practice. This approach can provide opportunities for learners to be exposed to and use L2 in authentic, meaningful contexts, with a focus on both meaning and form. It can also promote collaboration, creative problem solving, and critical thinking, and is associated with situated learning, intrinsic motivation, and clear objectives and assessment. This article sets out some practical considerations to guide practitioners in planning for and designing DGBLL. It then analyses three DGBLL exemplars, designed and implemented by the author in young L2 learner classrooms in Spain and Hong Kong. Each exemplar is evaluated using a framework based on the principles of task-based language teaching and ideas drawn from the broader literature on game-based learning.